Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream

Simply the BEST! Our Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream is full of flavor, made with the finest all-natural ingredients and is light and fluffy. Just the right amount of rich cocoa is added to our Best Ever Cream Cheese Buttercream, along with natural red food coloring, to create the spot-on color and flavor profile of classic Red Velvet Cake. It pipes beautifully, the texture is like mousse and it tastes just like Red Velvet Cheesecake! Everyone will love this recipe. Perfect for Christmas and Valentine’s Day!

A Special Buttercream for the Holidays: Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream

The beauty of our Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream recipe is that there is no need to add buttermilk, sour cream or vinegar to create a subtle tart flavor to match the classic Red Velvet Cake flavor profile as the cream cheese contributes just the right amount of tang.

As with my other cream cheese buttercream recipes, this special Red Velvet Cake inspired buttercream is a variation of my recipe for Best Ever Cream Cheese Buttercream—a veritable blank canvas for me when creating new cream cheese buttercream recipes. This special recipe for frosting pairs beautifully with a special chocolate cake that I had hoped to squeeze in before Christmas. But, no worries. That incredible chocolate cake is scheduled to be posted soon for Valentine’s Day. I promise.

If you are in need of a special buttercream to frost or fill cookies for Christmas or Valentine’s Day, this one will fit the bill and then some. It is rich and creamy and everything you would expect it to be without overwhelming or overpowering the flavor of your sugar cookies, chocolate cookies or red velvet cookies and will only complement them. In fact, I can’t wait to use our Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream to frost fudge brownies or Red Velvet Brownies! The ideas for its applications in dessert making are endless.

For this buttercream, just like my recipes for Pink Champagne Buttercream and Mint Cream Cheese Buttercream, I call for all-natural, plant-based food coloring made by CHEFMASTER®. You will be amazed at the performance of this organic red food coloring made with glycerine, lycopene (from tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables), water and red cabbage color. Plus, this incredible gel based, 100% natural and organic food coloring does not impact the flavor of the buttercream negatively, or water it down causing buttercreams to break, like artificial red food coloring often does.

CHEFMASTER® Natural and Organic Gel Based Food Color – Red

As mentioned above, for food color used in baking and buttercream making, I highly recommend CHEFMASTER® 100% natural and organic gel based food colorings and purchase mine from The Baker’s Kitchen online. Kosher certified powdered food coloring is also a very good option.

My friends, you are going to love this Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream with its pleasing silky-rich yet light and fluffy mousse-like texture and flavor profile that tastes just like Red Velvet Cheesecake!

Seriously, once again, I could not stop tasting it straight from the spoon. For my version, I used my favorite corn-free (cornstarch free) and vegan powdered sugar, 365 Everyday Value brand Organic Powdered Sugar by Whole Foods Market shown below.

For my friends that do not have a Whole Foods Market nearby, I highly recommend Wholesome Sweeteners for corn-free powdered sugar that can be found online in their store at Amazon.com.

As I have shared previously, this exceptional buttercream base is rich and buttery, melts on the tongue and is truly divine. Now, with the addition of Italian Pernigotti unsweetened cocoa (my favorite cocoa in the world!), our Best Ever Cream Cheese Buttercream becomes truly extraordinary. Red Velvet Cake lovers and cheesecake lovers, rejoice!

What about consistency? As is, the recipe is ready for frosting and piping cookies, brownies, cakes, cupcakes and cheesecakes (Red Velvet Cheesecake!) or even doughnuts and other baked sweet treats. However, you can lighten it up even further by whipping in a few tablespoons of heavy cream to create an even lighter mousse-like filling. Christmas, Valentine’s Day and other holiday baked treats have never had it so good!

What makes our Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream wicked good?

This exceptional cream cheese buttercream literally melts on the tongue. It is buttery-rich, creamy with Red Velvet Cake flavor, silky-smooth and light and fluffy like mousse. A slight tang from the cream cheese balances the sweetness of the cocoa powder and sugar so as not to be overly sweet. This cream cheese buttercream tastes just like Red Velvet Cheesecake! Due to the adequate amount of fat from the butter, this special buttercream pipes beautifully.

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream

Description

Our popular Cream Cheese Buttercream with rich cocoa and natural red food color for spot-on color and flavor of classic Red Velvet Cake. Pipes beautifully, the texture is like mousse and it tastes just like Red Velvet Cheesecake!

¼ cup (28 grams) fine-quality unsweetened cocoa, such as Pernigotti, available at Williams-Sonoma, spooned in cup, leveled off & sifted

Directions

Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer and large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Add cream cheese; beat until fully incorporated. Add vanilla and food coloring and mix until well blended. Gradually increase mixer speed to high and continue beating until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary with rubber spatula.

In a large bowl, whisk together sifted confectioners’ sugar and cocoa. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and cocoa mixture, beating on low speed (stir), until well combined. Beat on high speed until well combined and smooth while scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, about 2 minutes.

Yield: Makes over 4½ cups; enough to fill and frost a 9-inch two layer cake, or 8-inch three layer cake, or 18 to 24 cupcakes—depending on amount used to simply ice cupcakes with a knife or icing spatula (in the traditional manner) or pipe elaborate swirls, or decorate with other piping details.

Recipe Notes

Tips:

If not using immediately, the buttercream can be refrigerated for up to 2 to 3 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature before beating smooth again.

If using the buttercream to pipe details, be sure to use chilled hands when handling pastry bag as warm hands can melt the buttercream.

To lighten up the texture of this buttercream even further, whip in a few tablespoons of heavy whipping cream to create an even lighter mousse-like cream cheese buttercream filling.

About Stacy

Stacy Bryce is a recipe developer and member of the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals). Her passion is developing original conventional baking recipes as well as special diet recipes to include dairy-free, gluten-free and grain-free. You can follow Stacy at Pinterest.

You are so right, this is the perfect buttercream for Valentine’s Day and I must order some of that natural food coloring. Thanks for the tip! 🙂Laura (Tutti Dolci) recently posted…blood orange ricotta cookies

Hello Stacy!!
I have been enjoying your baking blog with all the wonderful recipes posted. But the bowl set you have featured on your Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting page – where did you get the set from? Love them!! If you could provide a web address or what not…would appreciate. Thank you either way and please keep doing what you do. Have a great day!

Hi there, Demetrios! Thank you for your interest in Wicked Good Kitchen and my recipes. I greatly appreciate your readership and support. 🙂 To answer your question about the retro 3-piece bowl set, I bought them over 12 years ago now in New York and they were made by Rosanna, Inc. I love this bowl set, too, and they have a permanent place on display in my kitchen. I hope that Rosanna will reprise the design for her collections so you can have a set as well. Perhaps you can contact her and start a campaign. Thanks again for writing and have a fabulous weekend!

Thank you so much Stacy! Really appreciate that. Oh yes…defintiely enjoying the posts. I’ll be using the white chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe for my birthday cake I’m making for myself next month.

I’ll check out Rosanna’s site and see what I can learn/find. Appreciate it!!

Goodness Stacy, how delicious and creamy is this buttercream!!! 😍
Just letting you know that my “healthy-eating” is out the window! LOL!!
The color is awesome, red, red, red…..fabulous! 😊
I’m making my list of yummies to make using this red cream cheese buttercream.
Cookies, cakes, more cookies & more cakes!!
Or maybe, just maybe, cream cheese buttercream by itself!
I like the idea of adding mini chocolate chips to it for a little change.
As always, great job Stacy!! 👌
Thank you for sharing this recipe, you rock! 🌹

Thank you, sweet Dalila! Your comments always make my day. 🙂 Girl, you will love this recipe for Red Velvet Cream Cheese Buttercream. Definitely let me know what you make with it and what you think. Thanks for stopping by and for making me smile. Have a fabulous week ahead!

Hi there, Tiffany! Thank you for your interest in Wicked Good Kitchen and my recipes. I greatly appreciate your readership and support. 🙂 To answer your question about the retro 3-piece bowl set, I bought them over 12 years ago now in New York and they were made by Rosanna, Inc. I love this bowl set, too, and they have a permanent place on display in my kitchen. I hope that Rosanna will reprise the design for her collections so you can have a set as well. Perhaps you can contact her and start a campaign. Thanks again for writing and have a fabulous weekend!

Hi there, Mai! My pleasure. Thank you for writing with such a great question. Buttercream frostings made with cream cheese (due to the moisture content) can break down fondant. If you are set on using a cream cheese buttercream with fondant, try this one here on the blog: Best Ever Decorator’s Cream Cheese Buttercream as it is made with plenty of sugar and is a crusting buttercream. If you want to make it Red Velvet-style, add in some cocoa powder to taste and paste red food coloring. Do not add any liquid (like liquid food coloring) or it will not work with fondant. Thanks again for writing, Mai. I hope that I have answered your question thoroughly and completely. Meanwhile, happy baking and buttercream making!

Hi there, Carrie! Thank you for writing with such a great question. I wish that I could answer this question based on experience, but I simply haven’t used this buttercream to create a carved cake. My recommendation is for you to do a trial run to get a good feel for working with this buttercream for carved cakes. Good luck and let me know how it goes. Meanwhile, happy cake baking and buttercream making! 🙂

Hi there, Karen! Thank you for your comment and for sharing updated information on this fabulous retro bowl set by Rosanna, Inc. However, I am so sorry that her company has no plans to reissue this set! So disappointing for my readers and pinners at Pinterest who love it. Perhaps saving the search terms, Oh So Good, retro bowl set and Rosanna, Inc., over at eBay or Etsy will help. Wishing you the best of luck in finding a set for yourself, Karen. 🙂 Thanks again for writing and happy baking!

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Welcome to My Kitchen

My name is Stacy. I'm a recipe developer, food writer, baker and member of the IACP. I love to concoct tasty baked creations to share with others—both traditional and gluten-free. Welcome to my Wicked Good Kitchen!